


Under Pressure

by Jestana



Series: AU_Bingo [19]
Category: Quiz Show
Genre: Alternate Universe - Victorian, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-22
Updated: 2010-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-13 23:28:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/142879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jestana/pseuds/Jestana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles has news for Richard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under Pressure

**Author's Note:**

> Written for au_bingo on LJ for the prompt _Historical: Victorian_. Rating for sexing. Beta by unicorn_catcher and umbralillium.

**Under Pressure**

  
"Mr. Van Doren is here to see you, Sir." Richard Goodwin smiled and rose to his feet as the tall, slender redhead appeared behind the maid, a familiar shy, boyish grin on his face.

The black-haired lawyer offered a warm smile in reply before turning his attention to the maid. "Thank you, Sandra. Could you ask Mrs. Stempel to have tea and biscuits in the sitting room in an hour for me?"

"Yes, Mr Goodwin." She nodded and withdrew, pulling the study doors shut behind her.

At a nod from the curly-haired man, Charles turned the key in the lock. When he turned back, Richard had already moved around the desk and the two men practically collided in the middle of the room, embracing tightly. "It's been too long, Charlie."

"I'm sorry, Dick." Charles' reply was muffled in Richard's hair. "I just couldn't get away. If it wasn't one family member wanting me to stay with them, it was another."

He sighed deeply, almost burying his face in the redhead's elegant neck, breathing in his scent. "It makes me glad I don't have much family of my own."

"I love them, but I was going mad these last few weeks, wishing I could just come back to London so I could see you again." There was something in Charles' voice that Richard couldn't quite place. He'd never heard it before.

He rubbed the other man's back through the material of his frock coat. "I was starting to go mad myself, but at least I could focus on my work."

"That's the trouble with having a title or inheriting one," Charles replied with a wry smile as he pulled back enough so he could see Richard's face. "You don't need to occupy yourself, so your mind is free to wander."

Richard curled his hands around the lapels of Charles' coat, smiling wickedly. "Did it wander to what we'd do once you got back to London?"

Charles' return grin was full of boyish delight and wickedness. "Oh, yes, many times. Some of which were rather inconvenient."

"This one is very convenient, wouldn't you say?" Richard suggested, carefully removing the frock coat and turning away to drape it over a nearby chair.

Long slender hands reached around him from behind, helping him out of his smoking jacket. The beautiful, melodious voice murmured in his ear as the jacket slipped free of his arms. "It's extremely convenient."

"I thought you'd like it." He turned to find Charles directly behind him, green eyes dark and intent on his.

Before Richard could think or react, Charles pulled him into a warm, hungry kiss. He responded with matched hunger, already reaching between them to untie Charles' cravat. It'd been far too long since they last saw each other. Working together, they divested each other of their clothes and stumbled over to the chaise longue set against the wall. Charles laid back against it and spread his legs in mute invitation, green eyes smouldering. Richard hadn't been able to resist his lover for years and had no intention of doing so now. He retrieved the oil from the drawer where he kept it and began to prepare Charles.

The redhead arched and moaned with pleasure, especially when Richard leaned forward to take the leaking cock in his mouth, suckling on it as he continued to prepare his lover. At the very moment he sensed that Charles was about to climax, Richard pulled back. Smirking at the groan of frustration he received, he wasted no time coating his own aching cock with the oil. Pulling the long, slender legs over his shoulders, Richard waited until the green eyes met his before he pushed into the welcoming tight heat in one slow thrust. Once he was fully inside, he paused, relishing this moment of joining. Charles reached up to cup Richard's cheek, hunger in his eyes, and whispered, "Dick, please, just fuck me."

"Your wish is my command," Richard whispered back, desire curling even hotter through him at the soft request. Pulling almost all the way back out, he thrust back into Charles hard and fast, earning a keen of pleasure from the redhead.

Thinking quickly, he shifted the long legs to wrap around his waist so he could kiss Charles, swallowing any further sounds of pleasure as he continued to pound into him, gripping the narrow hips tight enough to bruise. He could feel Charles' hand between them, working himself furiously in time with Richard's thrusts. The pleasure coiled tighter and tighter at the base of his spine with each driving thrust, but he held back until Charles arched one last time, hot seed splattering between them as he cried out against Richard's lips, "Dick!"

"Charlie!" Richard moaned as he buried his rod deep inside Charles, his climax overwhelming him so much that sparks danced behind his closed eyelids.

Richard rested his forehead against Charles' as they caught their breath, unwilling to separate from him just yet. Reluctantly, they pulled apart so they could clean up and get dressed. Once they were presentable, Richard opened the study door and they headed down to the sitting room together. Mrs. Stempel was exiting as they walked down the corridor. She stopped and curtsied when she saw them, "Mr Goodwin, Mr Van Doren. Everything is ready."

"Thank you, Mrs Stempel." Richard smiled. "We'll be serving ourselves, so you can take Sandra with you as well. Let her enjoy a cup of her own."

"Yes, Mr Goodwin." Mrs. Stempel disappeared briefly into the sitting room and re-emerged with Sandra in tow. The two women withdrew down the corridor and the two men went into the sitting room.

They sat down on the settee and Richard prepared the tea the way Charles liked it, pushing the plate of biscuits towards him. "How was your visit with your family?"

"Aside from overly long, it was nice to spend time with them," Charles replied, accepting the cup and choosing one of the biscuits.

Richard nodded, preparing a cup of tea for himself. "How's your brother and his new wife?"

"They're both fine." Charles sipped his tea. "They're already expecting their first child."

He smiled, taking a sip of his own tea. "Be sure to send my greetings and congratulations when you next write to them."

"I will." Charles smiled, though it quickly faded as he set down his teacup. "Dick."

Richard gazed at his friend and lover with concern. Charles had been unusually quiet the entire time they'd dressed and come down here. "What is it, Charlie?"

Silence reigned for a long moment while Charles fidgeted and Richard watched him. Finally, his mellifluous voice low, Charles told him, "Father and Mother are insisting that I marry. They want the family name to continue on."

"It _is_ continuing on," Richard replied, feeling his heart sink at this news. This didn't bode well for the two of them. "Through John."

Charles shook his head and got up to pace, agitated. "It's not that, Dick. _I'm_ the oldest son. _I_ should be continuing the family name."

"Is that _your_ opinion or theirs?" Richard asked, carefully setting his teacup on the table before he broke it.

This time, the green eyes were smouldering with anger rather than desire when they met Richard's brown ones. "Does it matter? They want me to marry. I have an obligation to marry. What else am I supposed to do?"

"Refuse," Richard answered with a shrug, reaching over the back of the settee for the box of cigars he kept on hand. "You'd only be obliged to marry if John were female. Since he's not, _he_ can carry on the family name."

Charles threw his hands up in the air, reaching into his coat for his cigarette case--which Richard had given him years ago--and pulled one out. "And if John has only girls?"

"This is ridiculous, Charlie," Richard retorted, tossing him the box of matches after he'd lit his cigar. "You have four uncles and a number of male cousins. There's a very small chance that the Van Doren name _won't_ be passed on if you don't marry."

The redhead caught the matches almost reflexively, using one to light his cigarette before he answered. "Family name aside, Father and Mother would like to see me married because they want me to be happy."

"Did you tell them you're perfectly happy to be a bachelor?" Richard asked, catching the box of matches when Charles tossed them back to him. "That marriage is not for you?"

Charles shook his head, puffing on the cigarette. "You don't understand, Dick. You told me yourself that you were never close to your parents."

"That's not the issue here, Charlie." Richard was starting to get annoyed. "Are you telling me that you're going to shackle yourself to some woman you don't love simply to please your parents?"

Charles' response came too quickly, his cheeks turning red. "No, no! Of course not!"

"You're engaged, aren't you?" Richard asked, getting up to intercept his pacing friend.

Reluctantly, Charles nodded, avoiding Richard's eyes, even when the shorter man grabbed his arms. "Yes. Her name is Geraldine Bernstein. Our families have been friends for years."

"Charlie..." Richard slowly released his lover's arms, stepping back from him as he fought the sense of betrayal he felt at this news.

Green eyes finally met brown as Charles grabbed Richard's arms, gripping tightly. "Dick, think about it from my perspective. You have a close-knit extended family and loving parents you would do _anything_ to please. Then they tell you to marry and have children, to continue the family name. Would you do it?"

Richard was tempted to give a quick, flippant reply, but a glance at Charles' face, seeing how important his answer was made him pause and _really_ think about what his lover was saying. If his parents had really cared about him, if they were still alive to insist that he marry someone and have children, would he? In the end, he could only shrug. "I don't know what I would do, Charlie. I don't know what it's like to have parents like that, to be under the same pressure you are right now."

"I wanted to tell them no, believe me," Charles implored, his grip loosening, "but they looked so pleased and proud and Gerry didn't seem to mind the idea."

He reached up and carefully eased Charles' hands loose from his arms, holding them in his. "I understand, Charlie, but we can't continue like this if you marry her."

"I know." Charles' voice was little more than a whisper as he gripped Richard's hands in his. "That's why I didn't tell you right away. I wanted--"

Richard nodded, understanding what Charles wasn't bringing himself to say, and led his lover back to the settee. "It's all right."

"Thank you, Dick," Charles whispered, sinking down onto it with a grateful smile.

He squeezed Charles' hands before releasing them. "You're welcome, Charlie."

* * *

  
Richard hesitated only briefly when he saw Charles waiting in the steam room of the Turkish bath the former visited regularly. It'd been months since they'd last seen each other. Richard had no idea what the other man could want. Nodding curtly, he crossed to sit down beside the redhead. He made a point of leaving a judicious amount of space between them. Silence reigned between them for several minutes. Charles was clearly struggling to say whatever was on his mind and Richard wasn't inclined to help. Finally, his mellifluous voice low, Charles told him, "The wedding's off."

"Really?" Richard glanced at his former lover in surprise.

Charles nodded, apparently fascinated by the pattern of the tiles between his bare feet. "Yes. I just couldn't go through with it. I felt more and more like a prisoner approaching the day of his execution the closer the wedding date drew."

"What did your parents think of your change of heart?" He refused to get his hopes up. Not after the heartache his former lover had already put him through.

The redhead sighed, ruffling his sweat-dampened hair. "They were disappointed, naturally, especially Mother. She was looking forward to it so much."

"What about carrying on the family name?" Richard asked this with a wry quirk of his lips, watching Charles out of the corner of his eye.

An ironic chuckle escaped the other man. "Father brought that up and I told him what you told me. He became very self-conscious at that point and didn't say anything more about it."

"Are you sure your parents won't try to make you marry again?" That was Richard's largest concern about this whole business.

Charles nodded, finally looking at Richard. "I'm sure and, even if they do, I'll tell them no."

"Forgive me if I don't believe you." He deliberately looked away, examining the pattern of the tiles himself.

He almost jumped when he felt Charles' hand cover his where it rested on the bench between them. "All I ask is that you give me another chance, Dick."

Richard was silent for several moments. It'd been painful enough the first time. Could he risk the pain and hurt again? He looked up at Charles's face, seeing the hope and hesitance in his green eyes. Most of all, though, he could see that the redhead still loved him very much. Seeing that, he slowly nodded. "Just this once, Charlie. If it happens again, I won't take you back again."

"Thank you, Dick." Charles squeezed his hand warmly, his smile full of relief and affection.

Richard returned the squeeze with a fond smile of his own. "You're welcome, Charlie."

 **End**


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